That Stupid Spell
by Archduchess of Books
Summary: Hermione is sent back in time to the Marauders. Contains some language, minimal romance, Romione fluff, and an OC.
1. Chapter 1

**Hermione P.O.V**

Hermione made her way toward the Gryffindor common room, her arms loaded down with books, her robes pulled over her head, and a very annoyed look on her face.

"Holly!" she yelled as she slipped through the portrait hole.

 **(A.N. Holly is my original character. She's Harry's twin sister and looks like Lily, but she acts more like James.)**

Holly glanced up from where she was sitting, a roll of parchment spread out in front of her. She flashed Hermione her sweetest smile and said "Hi, Mi. Is there a problem?" Ron glanced up from across the table where he was laboring over his own essay, and Harry glanced up from his book by the fire. Hermione's I-will-kill-you voice hadn't been heard since she and Ron started dating, since that particular voice had only been used when they were arguing. But now she was directing it at Holly.

Harry groaned and turned to his sister. "Holly." He said sternly. "What did you do this time?" Holly was known as an accomplished prankster, especially now that Voldemort was rising. She had been best friends with the Weasely twins when they were at school, after all. Ever since the recent death of Dumbledore, she had slowly teased laughter and life back into everybody.

Looking at Hermione now, Holly may have gone a tad too far.

"This is what she did!" snapped Hermione, and pulled her robes off of her head. Ron burst into laughter and quickly changed it into a cough, Harry instantly turned away to hide his smile, and Holly giggled, stuffing her knuckles into her mouth.

Hermione's bushy curls had been changed to bright pink, festooned with bright blue, green, and yellow ribbons and pulled into two pigtails. Hermione glared and tried to yank one of the pigtails out. It instantly gathered itself back. By now, Holly was giggling madly.

"Oh, don't look so mad, Mi, you look adorable! It's a Muggle show called My Little Pony. It'll wear off in a couple of seconds, I promise!"

 **(A.N. I hate MLP, but my sister watches it obsessively. It's annoying. So I thought of Pinky Pie and realized how funny that would look on a human.)**

True to Holly's word, the pink pigtails gradually let themselves out, the ribbons untying themselves to drop on the ground. The bright pink slowly drained out of it until Hermione's brown curls were visible again. She glared at Holly again before marching over to sit with Ron. Holly went back to her essay she was writing, humming to herself, and a still-sniggering Harry continued reading. It was peaceful… until there was a sudden loud bang.

Holly and Harry leapt off the couch, wands drawn. Hermione and Ron got up more slowly, their wands also drawn. From downstairs, they could hear screaming. And then they heard a sound they all instantly recognized: a woman's insane laugh.

"Bellatrix." Said Holly, and took off, running for the portrait hole. Harry and Ron were right behind her. Hermione took a deep breath and followed.

Soon, she was dueling for her life. Harry was casting spells left and right, Ron was protecting her back, and Holly was screaming random things over the noise of the battle. Hermione noticed someone running away and broke off to chase them.

 **Rosier's P.O.V**

Now was the chance he had been waiting for, the chance to use that spell, the chance to please his master. Knowing one of them would follow him, he ran down the corridor as though trying to escape. Soon he heard soft footsteps running after him. He spun, raising his wand, and saw the Granger girl, the Mudblood.

She was not as big a prize as one of the Potter brats, but close enough. He pointed his wand at her and yelled the spell he had found while perusing one of the Malfoy's books.

" _TEMPUS EST PATRIS VOCAT!"_

 **Hermione's P.O.V**

The spell was not one Hermione knew, but she knew it couldn't be good. The spell exploded into life in the middle of the hallway, a swirling nimbus of glowing blue magic that sucked her in. She screamed for help, but just as Holly rounded the corner, Hermione's vision was overtaken by blue and she felt herself falling. There was a rushing sound in her ears. Tendrils of wind caught at her hair, and she seemed to be hearing lots of different voices, all talking gibberish very, very fast.

Hermione slammed into something hard, and she knew no more.

 **Holly's P.O.V**

Holly rounded the corner just in time to see Hermione dissolve into glowing golden sparkles that spun into the swirling blue whateveritwas in the middle of the corridor. She spotted Rosier and raised her wand, yelling "Hey, Rosy!" but he sprang out of the window. She got there in time to see him transforming into black smoke and leaving the grounds.

She sprinted back to the skirmish and found Harry and Ron staring at the wreckage, confused. The teachers were rounding everybody up, telling them to go to their dormitories, carrying the injured to the hospital wing. Harry turned to look at her. "They weren't aiming to kill, just Stun. Bellatrix screamed at me 'Have fun, Potter!' before they were leaving."

Holly was no Hermione Granger when it came to brains, but she was smart, and something clicked into place.

"They were trying to distract us, so Rosier could use that spell." she whispered. Harry looked at her, even more confused.

"What spell?"

"Where's Hermione?" Ron butted in, looking over Holly's head.

Holly looked around, then told them in a whisper of the glowing blue thing and how Hermione had been dissolved into sparkles.

"I don't know, in other words." She said softly, then glanced up at the two shell shocked boys and straightened. No Death Eater was going to take her friend like that. She was Holly Potter, and she never gave up.

"Tomorrow morning," she rapped out, "we meet in the library and start researching. We'll get access to the Restricted Section if we have to. We are going to find out what happened to Hermione if it's the last thing I do."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! Sorry it took me so long to update, I have a million other ideas and I am extremely new to this site, so sorry! Hope you like it, please read and review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I do own copies of all the books and an extremely cute dog named Princess.**

 **Hermione P.O.V**

When Hermione finally woke, she did so with a roaring headache.

"That stupid spell." she muttered, sitting up and rubbing tenderly at her head. She looked around her. She appeared to be lying in the middle of a corridor. Apparently, the Death Eater's chosen spell had picked her up and tossed her. Ouch.

She stood up, cursing to herself and rubbing at her back, wrist, and whatever else hurt. When she finally was on her feet, she had to lean against the wall because of the sudden head rush.

"Damn you, Rosier…" she hissed, rubbing again at her head. She looked around.

She had clearly been lying there for a while. It had been nighttime, just after dinner when she had been hit. But now, sunlight streamed through the windows. It was a beautiful day outside. She moved closer to look out… when a voice spoke behind her.

"What are you doing out here?"

Hermione turned and almost choked. Severus Snape stood behind her.

He wasn't the way she knew him, though. This Snape was younger looking, much shorter, wearing too-short school robes, revealing skinny pale ankles and a drooping gray sock. His hair was just as lank and greasy as the professor she knew, but the cold dark eyes that scanned over her held no sign of recognition.

Hermione remembered the spell Rosier had cast at her. She had no idea what that meant, though she had a good idea…

"Hello?"

This was Snape, deciding to butt in on her thoughts. Hermione drew herself up.

"What I'm doing out here is none of your business, thanks. I was just looking for, um…"

She didn't want to say it. The name would make everything so much more real.

Snape tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you're doing here, but clearly you don't belong at Hogwarts. Perhaps a visit to the Potions classroom and a few drops of Veritaserum will tell me what I need to know." Hermione backed up as he came toward her, her brain racing to formulate an excuse as he stretched out a hand to grab her arm…

"What are you doing, Snape?"

The voice came from behind Snape. He turned and made a noise that sounded like someone had stuffed a frog in his mouth. Hermione looked over his shoulder and barely held in a gasp.

Holly Potter was walking down the corridor… but yet, it wasn't Holly. Holly's hair was longer, always tied back in a braid, her posture always wary, stiff, the side effect of a childhood living in fear of her aunt and uncle and cousin, and then Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

This girl was smaller than Holly by a couple of centimeters, with shorter hair of the same shade of red. The bright green eyes, presently narrowed in suspicion at Snape, were the same eyes Hermione had seen on Harry and Holly. No freckles dotted this girls nose like they did Holly's, and Snape never looked at Holly with this look of wonder and sadness in his eyes. Hermione took a deep breath and knew who this girl must be.

Seventeen-year-old Lily Evans was walking towards them.

 **Lily's P.O.V**

Lily stopped in front of Snape and set her hands on her hips, glaring. "What are you doing, Snape? As I recall, I said the last time I caught you hexing Peter that if I saw you attempting to harm another student, I would have to put you in detention." She turned toward the girl Snape had been reaching for, who was staring at her with wide brown eyes. Her wildly curly brown hair was tangled and flew all around her head, some of it sticking straight up at the back. Her mouth was hanging slightly open. Lily tossed her head and held out her hand with a smile. "Hi, I'm Lily. Sorry about this git" she shot Snape a glare. Then she looked at the girl more closely. "Hey, I haven't seen you around here before. What's your name?"

"Hermione, um, Gardener." The girl said quickly, reaching up to smooth her hair into some semblance of order. "I'm, um, new here. I was looking for, um…" she was looking around helplessly. "The…headmaster. I… forgot his name." She gave a little shrug and a quick _silly-me_ smile, wrapping her arms around her ribs, hands gripping her elbows, eyes turning down to look at the floor.

 _Poor girl._ Lily thought. It must be hard, being brand new and trying to find her way around the castle. Lily stretched out her hand and placed it on Hermione's shoulder. "I'll take you to the headmaster, whose name is Dumbledore, by the way." Snape was still standing there, glaring at the girl suspiciously. Giving him a cold, hard stare, Lily looped her arm through Hermione's and led her off down the hall.

 **Hermione P.O.V**

If Hermione had been any less in shock, she would have been extremely proud of herself for the quick lie she had come up with. Of course, there were severe flaws that would need to be ratified. But for now, all that was going through Hermione's head were the words _holy shit._

 _Holy shit, I'm talking to Lily Evans, the dead mother of my best friend and his sister._

 _Holy shit, I just spoke to a teenage Snape._

 _Holy shit, I traveled back in time._

 _Holy shit, that girl looks kind of like Neville; I must be seeing things… WAIT A MINUTE!_

Hermione's brain came to a screeching halt as a pretty blonde girl came running up, smiling happily and calling out "Lily!" She had long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and was wearing Gryffindor robes, and her round, friendly face was lit up with a huge smile. She threw her arms around Lily's shoulders. Lily let go of Hermione to hug this girl with a cry of "Alice! It's wonderful to see you!"

Yet another _holy shit_ floated through Hermione's brain.

"This is Hermione Gardener." Lily introduced, reaching over to grab Hermione gently by the wrist and pull her up. "She's new. Hermione, this is my friend Alice… Longbottom." As she said the last name, Lily put on an overly dramatic "innocent" face and batted her eyelashes at Alice, who flushed bright red and gave her a gentle shove.

 _Guess I know now where Neville gets it from._ Hermione thought.

"My last name is not Longbottom! It's Prewett. Sorry, Hermione, Lily thinks she's extremely amusing." Said Alice, still glaring at a laughing Lily.

"Hello, Miss Evans. Who is this you've got here?"

An ice cube dropped down Hermione's spine as she slowly turned towards her dead headmaster.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everybody!**

 **Sorry about not updating, I had to move and you would not BELIEVE how annoying it is to get everything sorted. Anyway, hope you enjoy! Review!**

 **Dumbledore's P.O.V**

Dumbledore gazed curiously at the girl who was staring at him with a slightly open mouth. She looked exhausted, her shoulders slumped and hair everywhere, and she seemed very confused. He listened intently to Lily's explanation.

"Oh, hello, Professor. This is Hermione Gardener. She's new here. I was actually helping her look for you. Hermione, this is Professor Dumbledore."

Hermione Gardener wasn't a name he knew, but he could tell from the girl's demeanor that she was scared and confused, so he smiled and said "Come along then, Miss Gardener. Let us discuss your future!"

 **Hermione P.O.V**

Hermione trembled as she followed Dumbledore up one corridor and down another. Her brain was still partially in shock. What on earth did this mean? Had Rosier known she would go back in time? And not just hours, but years. Decades, even!

She was in _so much trouble_ …

She was wildly grasping for an excuse that Dumbledore would accept. They all seemed too far-fetched. She was so focused on what she was thinking that when Dumbledore gently took her arm, she jumped a foot in the air and had to stifle a yelp of surprise.

They had reached the staircase to his office, and just then, Hermione seized on a good excuse. Quickly, she began to formulate her story, all the time glancing furtively at Dumbledore, remembering something Harry had told her…

 _Eye contact is necessary for Legilimency, Hermione._

 _Okay._ She told herself. _Whatever you do, don't look him in the eye._ She scanned the wall for anything that might help here, and noticed the calendar on the desk.

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1976._ A wave of mixed relief and panic washed over her. The date would fit with her story very well, but _1976?_ No wonder she had met Harry's mother. Lily Evans must be in her seventh year!

Dumbledore guided her to a chair in front of his desk, where she quickly sat. He sat behind the desk and smiled at her.

"Will you tell me how you came to be here, Miss Gardener?"

Hermione took a deep breath and smoothed her hair.

 **Dumbledore P.O.V**

The girl in front of him took a deep breath and smoothed her hair, though Dumbledore couldn't really see any sort of difference that made, and began her story.

"I came here on my own. I knew where the train was, my mother was a student here. I got to Kings Cross station and rode the train the whole way here. I sat in a compartment by myself. I was trying to find you, but I got lost wandering the halls when Lily found me. I'm here to ask you to let me stay here.

I've been going to Ilvermorny in America ever since I was a kid, but I lived in Britain during the summer and breaks. This last summer, Voldemort and his followers… killed my parents." Here she put her head in her hands and started to cry. Dumbledore waited patiently until she composed herself and went on.

"I have nowhere else to go and don't want to put any of my friends in danger. You are the only wizard Voldemort has ever feared. Please, could you help me?" She bowed her head, staring at her hands clasped in her lap. Dumbledore examined her bowed head and thought.

 **Hermione's P.O.V**

Hermione stared at her clasped hands, terrified that Dumbledore had seen through her story. Now that it had been spoken, it seemed insufferably transparent. What had she been thinking? Then she felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder.

"Of course you may stay here, Miss Gardener. You already met Lily Evans and you look as though you may be around seventeen?" at this Hermione nodded. " Very well. You can room with Lily Evans and her friends, which are Alice Prewett, Hestia Jones, and Marlene McKinnon. I believe you are Gryffindor material, being brave enough to come here all by yourself without an money and I assume no luggage?" he added, studying her carefully. Hermione focused on his eyebrow and nodded.

"I'm sure your roommates will let you borrow some clothes until you can get new ones." Dumbledore smiled.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Gardener."

Hermione snuck another peek at the small desk calendar.

 _Welcome to 1976, Hermione._

LINE BREAK I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO A BETTER ONE NO JUDGING KAY KEEP READING

Lily and Alice met Hermione at the foot of the steps at the headmasters urging.

"I'm so glad you get to room with us, Hermione!" Alice said, smiling at her. Lily squealed and hugged her tightly.

"Come on, I'll take you to meet Hestia and Marlene!" she squealed. Hermione found herself being dragged through the halls at great speed until they ended in the entrance, right by the Great Hall. Standing at the foot of the steps, Lily let go of Hermione for a second to run over and do a squealing group hug with two other girls before dragging them over to Hermione, who was still tired and felt extremely disoriented. She guessed it must have been later than she thought when she looked out of the window, as they were clearly heading to dinner. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and did her best to smile at the other two girls who would be her roommates.

She remembered Hestia Jones from the Order. This younger Hestia wasn't much different from her older counterpart. Shiny black hair was pulled into a braid over one shoulder and her eyes were dark and lively. Her cheeks were pink from excitement. It was reassuring to see a face that was even vaguely familiar. Hermione felt more grounded as Hestia welcomed her.

Marlene McKinnon was another story. Her long blonde hair fell silky straight and smooth to her waist, and her light hazel eyes were warm mischievous. When she was introduced to Hermione, she grinned and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. Then she stepped back, took ahold of a strand of Hermione's hair and shook her head.

"Girl, you have GOT to let me do something with this mess!" she announced. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Way to be rude, Marley." She muttered. Marlene laughed and shoved her gently before her eyes landed on something at the top of the stairs. They widened.

"Oh no…"

"What?" asked Hestia, before glancing up the stairs herself. She groaned. "Oh boy…here we go."

Hermione glanced up and felt her heart leap into her throat.

Four boys were coming down the stairs. One was short and chubby with bowl-cut blonde hair and small, watery blue eyes. He was practically squirming with excitement. Another boy was tall and thin and was smiling in tolerant amusement at two of the other boys. His light brown hair and amber eyes made him recognizable to Hermione as a younger Remus Lupin. There were two boys walking with their arms slung across each others shoulders. It appeared they were trying to give each other noogies. Hermione's eyes were drawn to these two boys, along with every other kid in the Hall. Behind Hermione, Lily let out a groan.

One boy was tall and extremely handsome, with black hair that was just long enough to be swoonworthy and grey eyes that sparkled with pure happiness: a teenage Sirius Black. And the other, the same height as Sirius, with extremely messy black hair, warm, friendly hazel eyes and round glasses: _a teenage James Potter_.

His resemblance to Harry was rather creepy. Draw a bolt of lightning on his forehead and give him green contacts and you would never be able to tell them apart. Hermione blinked and realized she was holding her breath. She inhaled with a slight gasp, then suddenly remembered she had an audience and wasn't supposed to know who these boys were. She turned to Alice.

"Who are they?" she asked. Alice sighed, smiled, and began pointing them out.

"James Potter is the one with the glasses: he's Head Boy this year. The really good-looking guy next to him is Sirius Black. The one with brown hair who is smacking James upside the head is Remus Lupin. And the blonde one is Peter Pettigrew. Otherwise known as the Marauders. They're all pretty cool once you get to know them, so don't listen to Lily: James has a massive crush on her and she thinks he's the spawn of Satan. It should be interesting when they have Head duties together." Hermione giggled.

Suddenly, Sirius spotted the group of girls and smiled a smile that would have swept Hermione off of her feet had she not 1. Had a boyfriend and 2. Known him as Harry's godfather in her own time. He sauntered over and winked at Alice.

"Hey Alice. Who's your friend?" he asked, smiling at Hermione. Hermione smiled back at him and held out her hand.

"I'm Hermione Gardener. Nice to meet you." Sirius took her hand, but instead of shaking it like a normal person, he turned her hand over, bowed, and brushed a feathery kiss along her knuckles.

"Allow me to be the first Marauder to officially welcome you to Hogwarts, then, Miss Gardener. I am Sirius Black." He smiled roguishly up at her and winked. Hermione felt a blush creeping up her neck to her cheeks.

"Oy, Padfoot. Stop embarrassing the new girl." James Potter came up and held out his hand, shaking hers. "I'm James, and don't pay attention to this idiot." He reached over to smack Sirius upside the head.

Hermione smiled as Remus came up to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you Hermione. I'm Remus Lupin." Hermione heard a giggle behind her and turned to see Lily Evans blushing slightly.

"Hi Remus. Good summer?" she asked.

"Decently so, thank you, Lily." Remus replied, turning to Peter, who had been standing there staring a Hermione. "Aren't you going to say hello, Wormtail? Hermione, this is Peter."

Peter stepped forward and shakily shook Hermione's hand. His hand was sweaty.

"N-nice to m-meet y-you." Peter stammered, his face flooding with color.

 **James P.O.V**

James glanced over at Sirius and grinned. 'Wormtail's got a cru- **Hey everybody!**

 **Sorry about not updating, I had to move and you would not BELIEVE how annoying it is to get everything sorted. Anyway, hope you enjoy! Review!**

 **Dumbledore's P.O.V**

Dumbledore gazed curiously at the girl who was staring at him with a slightly open mouth. She looked exhausted, her shoulders slumped and hair everywhere, and she seemed very confused. He listened intently to Lily's explanation.

"Oh, hello, Professor. This is Hermione Gardener. She's new here. I was actually helping her look for you. Hermione, this is Professor Dumbledore."

Hermione Gardener wasn't a name he knew, but he could tell from the girl's demeanor that she was scared and confused, so he smiled and said "Come along then, Miss Gardener. Let us discuss your future!"

 **Hermione P.O.V**

Hermione trembled as she followed Dumbledore up one corridor and down another. Her brain was still partially in shock. What on earth did this mean? Had Rosier known she would go back in time? And not just hours, but years. Decades, even!

She was in _so much trouble_ …

She was wildly grasping for an excuse that Dumbledore would accept. They all seemed too far-fetched. She was so focused on what she was thinking that when Dumbledore gently took her arm, she jumped a foot in the air and had to stifle a yelp of surprise.

They had reached the staircase to his office, and just then, Hermione seized on a good excuse. Quickly, she began to formulate her story, all the time glancing furtively at Dumbledore, remembering something Harry had told her…

 _Eye contact is necessary for Legilimency, Hermione._

 _Okay._ She told herself. _Whatever you do, don't look him in the eye._ She scanned the wall for anything that might help here, and noticed the calendar on the desk.

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1976._ A wave of mixed relief and panic washed over her. The date would fit with her story very well, but _1976?_ No wonder she had met Harry's mother. Lily Evans must be in her seventh year!

Dumbledore guided her to a chair in front of his desk, where she quickly sat. He sat behind the desk and smiled at her.

"Will you tell me how you came to be here, Miss Gardener?"

Hermione took a deep breath and smoothed her hair.

 **Dumbledore P.O.V**

The girl in front of him took a deep breath and smoothed her hair, though Dumbledore couldn't really see any sort of difference that made, and began her story.

"I came here on my own. I knew where the train was, my mother was a student here. I got to Kings Cross station and rode the train the whole way here. I sat in a compartment by myself. I was trying to find you, but I got lost wandering the halls when Lily found me. I'm here to ask you to let me stay here.

I've been going to Ilvermorny in America ever since I was a kid, but I lived in Britain during the summer and breaks. This last summer, Voldemort and his followers… killed my parents." Here she put her head in her hands and started to cry. Dumbledore waited patiently until she composed herself and went on.

"I have nowhere else to go and don't want to put any of my friends in danger. You are the only wizard Voldemort has ever feared. Please, could you help me?" She bowed her head, staring at her hands clasped in her lap. Dumbledore examined her bowed head and thought.

 **Hermione's P.O.V**

Hermione stared at her clasped hands, terrified that Dumbledore had seen through her story. Now that it had been spoken, it seemed insufferably transparent. What had she been thinking? Then she felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder.

"Of course you may stay here, Miss Gardener. You already met Lily Evans and you look as though you may be around seventeen?" at this Hermione nodded. " Very well. You can room with Lily Evans and her friends, which are Alice Prewett, Hestia Jones, and Marlene McKinnon. I believe you are Gryffindor material, being brave enough to come here all by yourself without an money and I assume no luggage?" he added, studying her carefully. Hermione focused on his eyebrow and nodded.

"I'm sure your roommates will let you borrow some clothes until you can get new ones." Dumbledore smiled.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Gardener."

Hermione snuck another peek at the small desk calendar.

 _Welcome to 1976, Hermione._

LINE BREAK I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO A BETTER ONE NO JUDGING KAY KEEP READING

Lily and Alice met Hermione at the foot of the steps at the headmasters urging.

"I'm so glad you get to room with us, Hermione!" Alice said, smiling at her. Lily squealed and hugged her tightly.

"Come on, I'll take you to meet Hestia and Marlene!" she squealed. Hermione found herself being dragged through the halls at great speed until they ended in the entrance, right by the Great Hall. Standing at the foot of the steps, Lily let go of Hermione for a second to run over and do a squealing group hug with two other girls before dragging them over to Hermione, who was still tired and felt extremely disoriented. She guessed it must have been later than she thought when she looked out of the window, as they were clearly heading to dinner. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and did her best to smile at the other two girls who would be her roommates.

She remembered Hestia Jones from the Order. This younger Hestia wasn't much different from her older counterpart. Shiny black hair was pulled into a braid over one shoulder and her eyes were dark and lively. Her cheeks were pink from excitement. It was reassuring to see a face that was even vaguely familiar. Hermione felt more grounded as Hestia welcomed her.

Marlene McKinnon was another story. Her long blonde hair fell silky straight and smooth to her waist, and her light hazel eyes were warm mischievous. When she was introduced to Hermione, she grinned and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. Then she stepped back, took ahold of a strand of Hermione's hair and shook her head.

"Girl, you have GOT to let me do something with this mess!" she announced. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Way to be rude, Marley." She muttered. Marlene laughed and shoved her gently before her eyes landed on something at the top of the stairs. They widened.

"Oh no…"

"What?" asked Hestia, before glancing up the stairs herself. She groaned. "Oh boy…here we go."

Hermione glanced up and felt her heart leap into her throat.

Four boys were coming down the stairs. One was short and chubby with bowl-cut blonde hair and small, watery blue eyes. He was practically squirming with excitement. Another boy was tall and thin and was smiling in tolerant amusement at two of the other boys. His light brown hair and amber eyes made him recognizable to Hermione as a younger Remus Lupin. There were two boys walking with their arms slung across each others shoulders. It appeared they were trying to give each other noogies. Hermione's eyes were drawn to these two boys, along with every other kid in the Hall. Behind Hermione, Lily let out a groan.

One boy was tall and extremely handsome, with black hair that was just long enough to be swoonworthy and grey eyes that sparkled with pure happiness: a teenage Sirius Black. And the other, the same height as Sirius, with extremely messy black hair, warm, friendly hazel eyes and round glasses: _a teenage James Potter_.

His resemblance to Harry was rather creepy. Draw a bolt of lightning on his forehead and give him green contacts and you would never be able to tell them apart. Hermione blinked and realized she was holding her breath. She inhaled with a slight gasp, then suddenly remembered she had an audience and wasn't supposed to know who these boys were. She turned to Alice.

"Who are they?" she asked. Alice sighed, smiled, and began pointing them out.

"James Potter is the one with the glasses: he's Head Boy this year. The really good-looking guy next to him is Sirius Black. The one with brown hair who is smacking James upside the head is Remus Lupin. And the blonde one is Peter Pettigrew. Otherwise known as the Marauders. They're all pretty cool once you get to know them, so don't listen to Lily: James has a massive crush on her and she thinks he's the spawn of Satan. It should be interesting when they have Head duties together." Hermione giggled.

Suddenly, Sirius spotted the group of girls and smiled a smile that would have swept Hermione off of her feet had she not 1. Had a boyfriend and 2. Known him as Harry's godfather in her own time. He sauntered over and winked at Alice.

"Hey Alice. Who's your friend?" he asked, smiling at Hermione. Hermione smiled back at him and held out her hand.

"I'm Hermione Gardener. Nice to meet you." Sirius took her hand, but instead of shaking it like a normal person, he turned her hand over, bowed, and brushed a feathery kiss along her knuckles.

"Allow me to be the first Marauder to officially welcome you to Hogwarts, then, Miss Gardener. I am Sirius Black." He smiled roguishly up at her and winked. Hermione felt a blush creeping up her neck to her cheeks.

"Oy, Padfoot. Stop embarrassing the new girl." James Potter came up and held out his hand, shaking hers. "I'm James, and don't pay attention to this idiot." He reached over to smack Sirius upside the head.

Hermione smiled as Remus came up to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you Hermione. I'm Remus Lupin." Hermione heard a giggle behind her and turned to see Lily Evans blushing slightly.

"Hi Remus. Good summer?" she asked.

"Decently so, thank you, Lily." Remus replied, turning to Peter, who had been standing there staring a Hermione. "Aren't you going to say hello, Wormtail? Hermione, this is Peter."

Peter stepped forward and shakily shook Hermione's hand. His hand was sweaty.

"N-nice to m-meet y-you." Peter stammered, his face flooding with color.

 **James P.O.V**

James glanced over at Sirius and grinned. 'Wormtail's got a cru-ush, Wormtail's got a cru-ush." He singsonged under his breath.


End file.
